


Personal Headcanons for the Steven Universe...universe

by Nazareth_Rose



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, F/M, Languages and Linguistics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24024760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nazareth_Rose/pseuds/Nazareth_Rose
Summary: Content includes/will include...-Lessons in the Gem language-The story of Steven's ancestry-Old Gem mythology-Gem war stories-Short anectodes about life in Beach City-and many more!This will end up as an appendix for at least one of my fanfictions.
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

The German Jewish have lived for hundreds of years in their country. However, in 1895, a boy named Steven was born to the Leiberman family. Through the years, he proved himself a skilled craftsman and had a charming, optimistic personality that drew people of all ethnicities, and arguably opinions, to his door.  
In 1913, he began political endeavors in the hopes of improving conditions for his people, keeping his Jewish identity under lock and key as much as possible.   
In 1914, when WWI broke out in Europe, he became frightened for his family and for his people. He knew that a war on this grand of a scale would result in terrible blame to the Jews, regardless of Germany's outcome in the war. In addition, he grew suspicious that some were finding out about his Jewish identity, as his funds were growing lower and lower.   
Thus, in 1915, he said goodbye to his family in Europe and emigrated to the United States. Throughout the months, he stayed with his family, moving down from New York to Pennsylvania to Maryland. While in Maryland, he heard news of a new resort town opening called "Beach City". He took a trip there, discovered its financial potential, and immediately started a new massage business there.   
From 1916 to 1983, business took off. Many girls, attracted by his looks, money, and personality, came to his door, but he somehow knew that these women weren't the ones for him and politely rejected all of them over the years.  
That was until one day in 1941, when he heard chaos in his parlor. He ran to see what was the fuss, and before his eyes was the most beautiful woman he'd seen in his life. The first thing he whispered to her was, "a gem..." out of sheer awe, with the Gem laughing and responding, "How'd you know?"  
From 1941 to 1943, they began a whirlwind romance. It should've been the high point in Steven Leiberman's life.The Great Depression had just ended. Business was booming. He was more well-liked than ever among his peers, and his relationship with his lover was nothing short of phenomenal. However, back in Europe, tragedy struck. For in the Holocaust, Steven Leiberman's mother and all of his 4 siblings had been brutally murdered; his father had died 20 years earlier. Steven Leiberman was devastated, and even had to close his business during the entire year of 1942 due to his grief preventing him from fulfilling his duties.   
In 1943, Steven's lover suggested they move on and have children as a step to that. Reluctantly, Steven agreed. They were about to try for a biological child, but just in time, Steven's lover heard horrible stories from her friends about the results of pregnancies with humans. So the couple took to the streets to find children with no family. They found a toddler named Madeleine DeMayo. They chose to keep her name in order to ward off further association with the two of them- the retaliation the public would have if they found a white, evangelical Christian girl was being raised by a Jewish man and a Gem woman would be too much for Steven to bear. Once Madeleine was adopted, business resumed as normal.   
In 1963, Madeleine grew and fell in love. She married him, with him choosing her last name instead of vice versa, and made plans with him to start a new family on the other side of Delmarva in Easton. She kept her entire childhood under a shroud of vagueness and secrecy, vowing she would never reveal that she was raised by a Jewish father and a Gem mother. Meanwhile, Steven Leiberman began to deteriorate due to old age, although he still managed to keep his massage parlor running. His wife became devastated as she realized that her long lifespan would mean that, no matter who she loved, she would always witness them die.   
In 1971, Andy DeMayo, the oldest of the two DeMayo brothers, was born.   
In 1973, Greg DeMayo, Steven Universe's father and the youngest of the two DeMayo brothers, was born. Through his childhood, he would often visit his grandfather (who kept his wife hidden from the DeMayo family), help him perform much of his duties in his massage parlor, and eventually take on his rebellious spirit in his adolescence.  
In 1983, Steven Leiberman died of sheer old age after a long, happy, fulfilling life. The massage parlor crumbled as new businesses took over, and eventually, the building was used as the base of beachfront hotels. Still, the original massage parlor lived on in the form of pictures and testimonies found in the hotel lobby. After Steven Leiberman's death, his devastated wife left the massage parlor. She was never seen or heard from again, but some of her friends say that she simply couldn't continue living and asked one of them to do the horrifying act of shattering her.   
In 1991, Greg DeMayo, after being inspired by one of his favorite songs, legally changed his name to Greg Universe. He then settled down in Beach City during one of his tours, finding love the same as his mother and grandfather did.  
Finally, in 2003, Steven Universe was born, Greg having named him Steven after his great grandfather, who had spent his entire life so closely to the lives of the Gems.


	2. Simple Gem Lessons

(spoken. I have no idea what the Gem glyph alphabet is or whatever.  
Bear with me, I’m combining an Oriental and a Slavic language here, neither of which are familiar to my Germanic tongue. It’ll probably be cringy to Slavs and Orientals alike)

The most basic part of Gem language is the word “jem”. Or, to be correct, “Je m’.”   
“Je” means “I”, although in some dialects it’s pronounced “ie”. The “m” is short for “m’diamenty”, which is short for “my Diamonds.”  
“Je m’” is always used before an action, as in “Je m’shieo”, for example, “she" being the action.  
However, “nas” is Gem for “me”. “Give me the ball” wold be “Nas daia pilka!” “I give the ball to her” would be “Je m’diao pilka ona.” (“Dia” being the root word for “give” and “pilka” meaning “ball.”)   
“You” in Gem is always “Ty m’’”, but pronounced “Tee m’”.   
“She” in Gem is always “Obiea m’’”. Easy enough. That being said, “Obiety” means “citizens”, but is better translated as “women”. When addressing a crowd, Gems often use the word “Obiety”.   
However, “her” when used as a direct object, such as in “I give the ball to her,” would be “ona”. So, “She gives the ball to me” would be “Ona daia pilka nas.” However, “I give the ball to her” would be “Je m’diao pilka ona.”   
“We” is always “mie m’”. “Us” is “mbiety” when referring to multiple Gems, but when referring to a fusion, you don’t use “mie m” or “mbiety”- you use “mnas” in order to join the words “mie” and “nas”.   
So, if you want to say, “We give the ball to Steven,” it would be “mie m’diamy pilka Steven.” (There’s no “to” or definite articles because Gem is lazy like that.) If you want to say, “Steven gives the ball to us,” it would be, “Steven m’daia pilka mbiety.” And if you want to say how Steven gives the ball to us and you’re Garnet or another fusion, you’d say, “Steven m’daia pilka mnas.”   
“You guys” is always “nim m’”, unless you’re using “Obiety”. So most of the time, if you want to say, “you guys need to give me the ball,” it would be, “Nim musi m’daizcie pilka nas.” “Musi” means “must”, “need to,” or “have to,” and unlike English, isn’t considered its own verb in the formal sense.   
“They” is always “Ony m’.” (ALSO NOTE: GEM WORDS NEVER END IN “NI”... ONLY “NY”).   
So, “they give the ball to Steven” would be “Ony m’dainy pilka Steven.” 

“Earth” literally translates to “Kolonia do Rosa,” which means, “Rose’s Colony”. However, they shorten it to “Kodoros,” although to make it easier for humans, it’s alright if they spell it like “Kodorose”. For “Earthling,” the word is “Oby do Kodorose”, “ody” meaning “citizen” when relating to a different species. For short, “Obdoko” is used. 

Conjugations work exactly like in Spanish because that’s what I’m familiar with, and it melds well in Gem for the first half.  
“I” words end in “o”  
“You” words end in “as”  
“She” words end in “a” (IMPORTANT NOTE: THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR ‘HE’, ‘HIS’, ‘MALE’, ‘MEN,’ OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. THE DEFAULT PRONOUNS WILL ALWAYS BE BEST TRANSLATED INTO ‘SHE’, ‘HER,’ ETC. When they need to say “man”, such as in saying “For an Earthling, he’s a kind man”, they’d say, “Dla oby do kodoroze, he man mila.” (“Iest” means “is”, and “mila” means “kind”. Like in Glitchtale!)   
Now’s when it gets tricky.  
“We” words end in “my”, pronounced “me”.   
“You guys” words end in “zcie”, pronounced “che”.   
“They” words end in “ny.” 

Basic vocabulary  
“And”- “Y” (like in Spanish)  
“In”-”Zai”  
“But/However”- “Alie”  
“Moya”- “My” when referring to a singular object/person  
“Moych”- “My” when referring to multiple people/objects

To wake up… “sie”...pronounced “She eh”, but like one syllable

I wake up… “Je m’sieo”... (pronounced “she eh oh”, but like one syllable)  
You wake up… “Ty m’sieas”  
She wakes up… “Obiea m’siea”  
We wake up… “Mie m’siemy.”   
You guys wake up… “Nim m’siezcie.”   
They wake up… “Ony m’sieny.” 

To fight… “wald”... pronounced “vald”

I fight… “Je m’valdo”  
You fight… “Ty m’valdas”  
She fights… “Obeia m’valda.”  
We fight… “Mie m’valdmy.”  
You guys fight… “Nim m’valdzcie.”   
They fight… “Ony m’valdny.” 

“Ony, m’valdny, ony m’valdny,  
ale ty byedzie m’sieas, moy Steven.  
Zai moych ramonach, zai moych ramonach,   
ty m’sluchas do fallang, do marza.  
Ony m’valdny, ony m’valdny,   
alie ty moy syn.” 

They fight, they fight,  
but you, my Steven, will rest  
in my arms, in my arms.  
You hear the waves, the sea.  
They fight, they fight,   
but you are my son. 

“cy”- At the end of verbs, meaning that it is currently happening. For example, the word “Spinel zeregnacy” means “Spinel is regenerating.”

Gem slang and important vocabulary  
"Jarilo"- God-like fury, god-like wrath  
"Obiety"- "Citizens", or, more specifically, "women". Has a rallying context.   
"Ona"-She  
"Ta"- She, emphasized  
"Zhayna"- War  
"Zhayna do Jarilo"- The War Entailing God-like Fury. Also known as "The First Gem War" by humans. Emphasizes the "I" and "j" difference in between Homeworld Gems and Crystal Gems.  
"Zhayna do Diankula Zapoczcick" or "Zhayna do Diankza" for short. Translates best into "The War from the Single Bullet", as most Gems believe that the cause for the war was Spinel's death by a single bullet, which caused Steven to be angered enough to call the Gem squadron over to kill George's group of protestors. Known by most humans as "The Second Gem War".  
“Iapa”-Soldier  
“Iaspera”-Supersoldier  
"Ta rangla"- She's wounded, although she can still by all means regenerate  
"Ta chezch rangla"- She's badly wounded, her gem is shattering. The word "CHEZCH" is emphasized.   
“Ta zeregnacy”- She is regenerating 

Gem Conditions:  
“Chezch”- “Is shattering”, is also Gem for “dying”.   
“Chezil”- “Has shattered”, is also Gem for “dead” .

"Ta chezil"- She's dead, her gem is shattered   
"Brud"- Very derogatory. Means "dirt", means a Gem is incredibly immature and indicates that they're a "piece of crap", that they're not really a Gem. Is the Gem word for Jasper’s “piece of dirt” and for Peridot’s “clod”, although she uses the gentler form “brod” in order to not get in trouble.   
“Podca”- Possibly the worst thing you could call a Gem. It’s their equivalent of “coward”, but it literally translates into “surrenderer”. Not even the Diamonds dare to call even a Pearl that word….unless the Pearl did something remotely cowardly, that is. If you say this word in front of a Gem, they’ll be wary of you and think of you as a jerk for the longest time.   
“Ogrod do Povstaly”- Means “garden for the growth of those newly emerged”, but is Gem for “Kindergarten”. “Ogdopov” is short for this. 

War Rankings:  
-”Povastaly”...literally means “newly emerged from the ground”, but is Gem for “Private.”  
-”Razvoi”...literally means “growing”, but is Gem for “Corporal”.   
-”Zrezaly”- literally means “mature”, but is Gem for “Sergeant.”  
And finally, “Malmient”, which means “General” or “Little Diamond”.   
-“Malmienta”- a more affectionate, non-military term for “little diamond”, which was the name Blue, Yellow, and White often called Pink.   
-”Koronovany”- A mix between a human and a Gem. Literally means “crowned one”, which is the literal meaning of “Steven”, the first known Koronovany and the only known one until the births of the Zhayna do Diakanza involving human male soldiers and female Gems.   
“Pistol”- Gun. Also used to refer to what we’d normally call “blasters” or “laser guns”.   
“Pisdokris”- Glass gun. What the Gems came up with in order to make guns incredibly deadly during the Zhayna do Diankza.   
“Base”- “Biaza”  
“Back to Base”- “Obiety, biaza!” Also a really bad-butt way to say, “RETREEEEEEEAT!”.   
“We surrender”- “Mie podcme.” (“Podca” is their word for “surrenderer”, and is the worst possible thing you could call a Gem. By surrendering, you are transmitting this supreme insult to yourself.) 

Now, with things they aren’t familiar with, such as boardwalks and beachballs, they use the English form for. However, they are familiar with the words “Beach” and “City”, which respectively are “Playzh” and “Miasto”, but it would be awkward if they called it that in Gem. It’s like an English speaker calling “Los Angeles” “The Angels” all the time. However, because with their fondness with ancient things such as nature, they have no problem with that. 

Geography/Space:  
“Earth”- “Kolonia do Rosa”, or commonly “Kodoros” for short.  
“Earthling”- “Oby do Kodorose”  
“Homeworld”- “Domshviat”. Literally means “Home World”, “Dom” being the Gem word for “Home” and “Shviat” meaning “World”. Any planet that isn’t a “Kolonia” is a “Shviat”. Sounds Hebrew!   
“Homeworldian”- “Oby do Domshviat”, meaning “Citizen of Homeworld.” However, just like humans refer to themselves as humans, they refer to themselves as Gems.  
“Planet”. Either a “Kolonia” or a “Shviat”. If you are not a “Kolonia”, you are a “Shviat”. Either you are a colony or just a plain word. You could say that “Shviat” is the best translation for planet, but they’ve conquered so many that you almost have to categorize it. If you aren’t sure, it’s best to respect them and just call it “Kolonia”. If you call something a “Kolonia” that isn’t, they’ll feel flattered and probably like you better. But if you call something a “Svhiat” that’s a “Kolonia”, they’ll feel pretty insulted, or at least think of you as a little ignorant.   
“Sky”-”Cie” (pronounced “schie”).   
“Space”- “Cieniebo” (literally translating into “Dark Sky”)   
“Spaceship”- “Ptak do Cienebo” (literally translates into “Bird of the Dark Sky”. Ancient people, ancient words.) Often called “Ptak”s for short.   
“Nery”-”Path” or “Galaxy” depending on the context  
“Nery Hiery”- “Milky Way”. Our Galaxy. 

Religion/Nature  
“Drzewo”-Tree  
“Zelena”-Branch  
“Gviazady”-Sky


End file.
